Back to the slammer for Canadian prison 'Houdini'

VICTORIA, B.C. — A 62-year-old man described by his publisher as a prison "Houdini" for 13 escapes from custody is going back to the slammer, this time for illegal possession of a handgun.

Lorne Wayne Carlson, author of "Breakfast with the Devil: The story of a professional jailbreaker," got 18 months after pleading guilty yesterday in British Columbia Supreme Court.

Carlson was on parole in July when he was tackled by police investigating a domestic dispute and a loaded handgun fell out of his pants.

"I deeply regret having that handgun, your honor, and I will never possess another gun in my life," the gray-haired man told Justice Robert Hutchison.

The judge was unmoved.

"You are getting too old for a life of crime and incarceration," Hutchison said. "It's time to give it up."

The sentence was for two years, less six months for the time Carlson has been locked up since his latest arrest.

Carlson has an extensive record for robbery and other crimes in Canada and the United States.

He has spent about 35 years in prison, most of his adult life, and has escaped 13 times. His publisher, Insomniac Press, contends that makes him the prisoner with the most escapes in modern North American history.